Soundbites: The Week in Audio - 17.11.17

This week’s blog looks to the surf capital of Britain, a rock legend’s 18th and Jazz FM setting standards, plus much more.

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The tides are changing down in Newquay as the UK’s first ever radio station that focuses solely on surfing starts broadcasting. Radio Newquay have just won themselves a five-year community radio license from Ofcom. Founder Mark Chapple told RadioToday: “We are absolutely thrilled and over the moon. We all love living in Newquay and are immensely proud of our town and this is just what it needs as it continues to make huge strides forward.”

It was the year of Spice Girl lollipops, the release of Titanic in cinemas across the country, and of course, as we all remember, the birth of Planet Rock Radio. Planet Rock is celebrating being 18 years old this week and they’ve dug deep into the rock archives to play the biggest nostalgic clips every hour from the most memorable moments of the last 18 years.

An Irish Christmas will be heard in certain parts of the UK this festive season. As Irish pop up station, Christmas FM, is launching on DAB in two areas of the UK, following years of temporary seasonal broadcasts on FM in Ireland. Over the last nine years, the station has raised more than €1.25m for good causes and is planning to do the same in the UK with DAB slots in the north-west and south-east of England.

Jazz FM gets vocal with its own Alexa skill. The station says it’s the first UK radio service to provide the skill, and RadioToday understands a number of broadcasters including the BBC will follow soon.

Being four episodes deep into the new podcast from Irish musician and comedic performing artist Blindboy Boatclub, I am already eagerly awaiting next week's episode of The Blindboy Podcast. It's been a while since I've come across a podcast that is as stripped back and honest in its approach. It’s an eclectic podcast containing short fictional stories from his recent book “The Gospel According to Blindboy”, and some general comedic monologues that touch on arts, literature, society, culture, music, and of course, his philosophy on life. It may take a while to understand his limerick lilt if you are not familiar with his previous work, but once you do, it's an almost meditative show. I make sure to listen when I have an hour of no distractions, to fully immerse myself in his tales.